theksmith 5,778 Posted May 27 couple of Gadget photos from the recent Lake-to-Rim Overland trip... lookin shiny in the shade! in front of "the perfect" (giant) Christmas tree. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted June 5 (edited) wheeling here in the lower 48, it's pretty rare i need to carry more than the extra 4 gallon's of gas that i already have a mount for (a custom tailgate bracket for an Expedition One Geri Can). there are however, a few trails that i'd be more comfortable on with some additional fuel. so i devised a quick roof mount for another Geri can (or 2)... i wasn't quite ready to commit to a full-time installed a roof rack (i like the "plain" look of my rig as-is). and since i rarely need this extra fuel, i wanted a mounting system that was quick to install and remove. i found these roof rails and gutter mounts for a JK on Amazon for $130. they are made completely of aluminum (no worries of rust from cheap powdercoat) and have t-slot tracks in the top and sides of the rails. i then drew up a simple saddle bracket to go between the rails and had 2 of them laser cut & bent out of 0.187" 5052 aluminum by Send Cut Send. this was done instead of just sitting the can on the top of the rails so that everything will sit low enough to fit in the garage! i could have made those myself by hand, but the 2 of them were a total of $68 plus tax from Send Cut Send and material cost alone would probably be over half that. this way i knew they would both be precisely the same and exact to my drawings. here are my brackets installed on the Amazon rails with aluminum Geri Can latches attached. Expedition One makes latch extensions to stack 2 cans high if i ever need even more fuel. i drilled one of the aluminum latches to work with a tiny padlock. hopefully that lock, along with the 12 screws clamping this contraption to my roof, are enough to keep a casual thief-of-opportunity from stealing it all while Gadget is in some random hotel parking lot. i've never had one of these Geri cans leak or even slightly seep, so i'm comfortable having them on their sides. the Geri cans are similar to Rotopax, they even use the same threads on the main cap/spout. the Geri brand includes a vent though, which makes emptying them much quicker. they're also sold in a black or white version for water (along with the red, black, and yellow ones for fuel). the saddle brackets sit only about 1/2" from the rooftop but everything seems solid enough that there's no detectible sagging when loaded. it's a little silly looking sitting up there on Gadget, but not horrible. so mission accomplished - i can now quickly install an extra 4 or 8 gallons of fuel - in addition to the 4 gallons i often carry on the tailgate. Edited June 5 by theksmith 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Trapschuh 61 Posted June 5 Nice find and install! Thanks for the info! 400LBS capacity is outstanding! Ive been looking at the "GOLD PLATED" Rhino Rack Backbone mounts! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted June 5 8 minutes ago, Michael Trapschuh said: Nice find and install! Thanks for the info! 400LBS capacity is outstanding! Ive been looking at the "GOLD PLATED" Rhino Rack Backbone mounts! yeah the Rhino Backbone seems to be a popular solution. i've always really liked the Maximus-3 mounting system, it adds very minimal additional height to your rig and has virtually invisible brackets - but they also think theirs is made of gold! https://www.maximus-3.com/product-page/jk-roof-rack-short-platform Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4WLNRN 774 Posted June 5 After having my Front Runner Outfitters rack for a while, I wish I had gone with the Rhino Backbone rack system instead. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ob1jeeper 849 Posted June 5 This is one of THE slickest mounts for extra fuel storage that I've ever seen... Well done... ;) 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted June 9 (edited) behold my new Clayton Offroad JKU gas tank skid plate - 91 pounds of 3/16" thick American steel! it's one of the few that completely replaces the factory tank's skid/bracket, which is good because mine is quite the pretzel. after that last night run i had a grinding/scraping noise on the passenger side. i took apart the brakes and the front hub trying to find it. long-story-short, it turned out i had finally bent the OEM fuel skid so much that it bowed outward on the side and was rubbing against the rear t-case flange yoke! i could probably remove the factory skid and persuade it to stop bulging with a large sledgehammer. but, i've known i'd eventually get this to complete the whole Clayton skid system. it's just not been a priority to spend the $700 on it till now! got it all spray painted this morning, might have time to install it this afternoon. Edited June 9 by theksmith 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted June 22 well i've been fighting this Clayton Offroad gas tank skid for over a week! here's a picture of the old beat up OEM skid and where it was bulged out, rubbing the as soon as i got the Clayton skid installed and looked at the clearance between the driveshaft and it (at the pinion yoke), i knew it wasn't gonna clear. i still tried to do a quick flex test and just barely articulating caused the yokes to smack the skid HARD. that's with the axle centered perfectly at ride height, and the pinion already pointed downward from optimum angle just a tiny bit. Clayton suggested i just move the rear axle over with my adjustable trackbar. unfortunately that wasn't possible because that would cause interference with my ORO Swayloc and my water tank. not to mention i'd have to move it off-center more than an inch and purposefully dog-tracking my rig by that much seems like a bad idea. i do have a 1350 driveshaft and i get that Clayton can't test their stuff with every possible scenario. however, i really don't see how this skid could ever even hope to work with a short-arm lift and a double-cardan style drive shaft properly setup. for $700, i expected better engineering. the factory tank and OEM skid have a large lower radius instead of that sharp 90* bend. in fact the factory setup has a larger radius back where this pinion yoke could hit than on the rest of the tank - gee, it's like the Jeep engineers knew it was tight right there or something! so i lopped 1-1/2" off each side of the corner of the skid near the back end and welded in a new plate at an angle to get back some of the OEM clearance. side-note, i have got to get a 220v outlet installed in the garage soon. i only have a 15A 120v and i kept popping the breaker if i tried to weld more than an inch at the correct settings for this 3/16" steel. i had to dial the welder down a bunch to get this done (still in short spurts) and i couldn't seem to get a decent bead going again after that. also, removing and re-installing the gas tank skids multiple times is a bit of a PITA. i didn't want to remove the actual tank each time and risk breaking one of its 5 plastic connections. instead you lower the front of the tank skid enough to slide a couple ratchet straps in between it and the tank and then tighten them a little at a time as you lower the skid slowly with jacks. having the tank almost completely empty is pretty much a necessity too. took her out for a flex test again, this time i could get a little further but still started to rub before full articulation. so i installed an additional 3/4" of rear bump-stop extension and tried again. this time i couldn't hear the DS smacking metal, but the paint test revealed it was still just grazing the skid a bit. i ran the lower rear control arms out a couple turns, which brought the pinion down another 1.5 to 2 degrees. that change, coupled with all the other work, seemed to be the final trick that was needed. this is what success looks like (intact fresh paint)! certainly not stoked about loosing some up travel, nor the driveshaft u-joint operating angle, but i guess you have to make compromises to have as many mods working together as Gadget does. 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ob1jeeper 849 Posted June 24 (edited) IF you are in the mood to remove the skid again, I'd suggest removing the patch piece you installed, then put/hold the skid in place (maybe with a jack?), and see just how much more you are able to remove from the skid in that area, without making it fit tight against the tank, to get back the clearance you once had. Then you could replace your patch with one that still clears your D-shaft joint. As for the lack of weld penetration, I'm of the opinion that these welds are not critical to the integrity of the skid, so I would not be afraid to place a half dozen (or so) 1/2-1 inch welds, which should suffice to keep the patch in place, as opposed to trying to completely weld it in place. Should you choose to remove it for re-do's, I'd recommend adding a few (half dozen?) holes in the lower portion of the plate, to allow any loose gravel/sand/etc. to escape, so that it doesn't get lodged and cause abrasion of the tank by becoming lodged between the two. Just my $.02... Edited June 24 by ob1jeeper 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted June 29 (edited) had a nice time camping on the Mogollon Rim and running Pyeatt Draw with ORP members this weekend! my camp. view from the hammock. snacks! Gadget playing around (photo credit @Scott and Kim Miller). that's a good boy Cooper, as long as you keep your extremely dirty ass off me (photo from @kaspily). Edited June 29 by theksmith 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
